In a land as grand and progressive as the territories of the regal Sumeros Summerking, it is never enough for justice to be decided simply on a whim, left in the hands of fallible and feuding aristocrats. The Lord of Masques ever-aspires to higher and more noble ideals, and so demands a legal system that serves his people without fear or favour.
Just as those noble sentinels who bear the title of Gorewarden dutifully protect the borders of these blessed lands, so too must the Grand Justice safeguard the nation from within, upholding the spirit of civility, reason, and decency with even-handed judgements.
Grand Justice Gormayne is the respected incumbent of this vital post. To convey accurately the qualities possessed by this most learned individual would require almost as many volumes as are neatly catalogued within his great library of jurisprudence. He is a judge, yes, but also a keen scholar, with a proficient understanding of the strange elder tongues in which New Summercourt’s ancient codes of law were once inscribed.
No mere bookish laureate, Gormayne is also an inspiring rhetorician. In the halls of New Summercourt, the domains of distant lords, and even on the field of war, he delivers stern proclamations divined from the fundamental precepts that underpin the kingdom’s constitution. Thus, the Grand Justice ensures that those who transgress are harshly reproved – their fate is, alas, a necessary example, the price of law and order.
Such weighty responsibilities must surely take their toll, and there are those who question Gormayne’s fitness to serve as the Summerking’s chief magistrate – or even his sanity. Whispered sightings abound of his eminence expressing sudden revulsion at the fine delicacies of a royal banquet, or being taken by long, brooding silences over the course of an important trial.
These scurrilous rumours doubtless stem from the criminal elements that test even the most enlightened kingdoms. Indeed, those who question the Grand Justice are soon revealed as outlaws or conspirators, and find themselves cowering in the dock before his withering oration, at the mercy of his assize of hand-picked jurors.
Do not trouble yourselves with such legalistic minutiae! You are no trespasser, but an innocent and invited guest. The date of the great feast draws near – ‘pon the day of the World Championships of Warhammer Preview – and soon you shall be warmly welcomed by all the noble lords of the court.